Trustees

The Board of Trustees manages the business of The Rotary Foundation, the charitable arm of our organization that funds service activities. The RI president-elect nominates the trustees, who are elected by the RI Board to four-year terms.

Read the latest Trustee decisions and minutes

• 

  Holger Knaack

  Chair 2025-26
  Trustee 2022-26 
  Rotary Club of Herzogtum Lauenburg-Mölln
  Germany

  Holger Knaack was the owner of Knaack KG, a real estate company, and Knaack Bakery Enterprises, a family business founded in 1868. He holds a degree in business administration from the Kiel University of Applied Sciences.

  Knaack is a founding member of the Civic Foundation of the City of Ratzeburg and the founder and chair of the Karl Adam Foundation.

  A Rotary member since 1993, Knaack has served Rotary as president, treasurer, director, moderator, member and chair of several committees, Council on Legislation representative, endowment/major gifts adviser, and learning facilitator. He served for six years as a multidistrict Rotary Youth Exchange chair and co-chaired the Host Organization Committee for the 2019 Rotary International Convention in Hamburg, Germany.

  Knaack and his wife, Susanne, have hosted more than 40 Rotary Youth Exchange students and are Major Donors to The Rotary Foundation.They are also members of the Paul Harris Society and the Bequest Society.

• 

  Jennifer Jones

  Chair-elect 2025-26
  Trustee 2023-26
  Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland
  Ontario, Canada

  Jennifer Jones served as president of Rotary International in 2022-23 and in doing so became the first woman to hold our highest elected office, 117 years after Rotary’s founding.

  A communications executive, Jones is the founder of Media Street Productions Inc., an award-winning media company in Windsor, Ontario, that helps corporations and nonprofit organizations tell their stories with conviction and credibility.

  As an ambassador for Rotary, Jones has strengthened our reach and impact. She regularly collaborates with world leaders, celebrities, and well-known thinkers, and she has raised hundreds of millions of dollars to eradicate disease, elevate education, support peace, and provide clean water, sanitation, and hygiene.

  As president, Jones embarked on the Imagine Impact Tour, bringing top-tier media professionals and social influencers with her to showcase stories of sustainable, large-scale projects by Rotary’s People of Action around the world. Messaging from the tour reached more than 1.3 billion people.

  Jones is also a leader in cultivating experiential fundraising opportunities, such as Rotary’s golfing event with Jack Nicklaus in Jupiter, Florida, USA, which raised more than US$5.25 million for polio eradication in one day. Another example is the innovative virtual COVID-19 #RotaryResponds event that raised critical funds for COVID-19 relief projects and showcased Rotary’s response across the globe.

  Jones has served the Windsor-Essex community as chair of the University of Windsor Board of Governors, Maryvale Adolescent and Family Services, and the Windsor-Essex Chamber of Commerce.

  Jones has received Rotary’s Service Above Self Award, The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service, and the Sylvia Whitlock Leadership Award. She has also been recognized for her service with numerous honors including the YMCA Peace Medallion, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, and Wayne State University’s Peacemaker Award, a first for a Canadian. She holds a Doctor of Laws (LLD) from the University of Windsor and one from Queens University.

  Jones is married to Nick Krayacich, a family physician. They share a love for Rotary, travel, cycling, golf, and relaxing at their family cottage on Lake Erie.

• 

  Greg E. Podd

  Vice chair 2025-26
  Trustee 2022-26
  Rotary Club of Evergreen
  Colorado, USA

  Greg Podd is a retired certified public accountant and personal financial specialist who opened his own firm in 1979. During his career, he wrote four professional continuing education accounting and finance courses and was a keynote speaker at five national conferences. Greg has taught many courses as a guest professor in the master’s degree in taxation program at Arizona State University and has made presentations to more than 20,000 CPAs and chartered accountants worldwide. He was also president and owner of a firm that specialized in metal fabrication for the telecommunications industry and of an international health care software development firm.

  Podd joined Rotary in 1982. He has served Rotary International as vice president and director. During his time on the Board of Directors, he chaired committees including the Audit Committee and the Board Council on Legislation Advisory Committee. He also served on the Operations Review Committee and The Rotary Foundation’s Investment Committee, among others. Other roles he’s held include training leader, RI president’s representative, and representative to the Council on Legislation.

  As a Rotary Foundation major gifts adviser, Greg organized his district’s Million Dollar Dinner, which raised more than $3.1 million in one night. He enjoys applying his professional knowledge and skills to help Rotary’s club, district, and zone leaders resolve funding questions. He says, “There is an education gap out there dealing with the finances of Rotary at all levels, and I’m glad to have served as a go-to person for questions.”

  Podd has also been active in numerous local, regional, and national professional organizations, community groups, and charities, including as a treasurer and board and committee member.

  Podd has also been active in numerous local, regional, and national professional organizations, community groups, and charities, including as a treasurer and board and committee member.

  Podd has received the Service Above Self Award and The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service. He and his spouse, Pam, are Major Donors and members of the Arch Klumph Society, Bequest Society, and Paul Harris Society.

• 

  Ann-Britt Åsebol

  Trustee 2024-28
  Rotary Club of Falun-Kopparvågen
  Sweden

  Ann-Britt Åsebol retired as a member of the Riksdag, Sweden’s parliament, in 2022 after several terms as county councilor for Dalarna County. As a member of parliament, she served on several committees, including the Committee on the Constitution and the Committee on Education. 

  Before she entered politics, Åsebol worked as a teacher, a principal, and a trainer at the Teachers Training College in Falun, her alma mater. She later founded a private secondary school and served as its CEO. She holds a master’s degree in Swedish and history from Uppsala University and did coursework in history and German at Heidelberg University.

  Åsebol joined Rotary in 1993 as the first female member of her club. She has served Rotary as learning facilitator, RI president’s representative, and regional Rotary International membership coordinator. Åsebol also served as RI director and as vice chair or chair of several RI committees, including the Rotary Peace Centers Committee, 2021 RI Virtual Convention Committee, Constitution and Bylaws Committee, and Joint Young Leaders and Alumni Engagement Committee.

  One of her favorite roles was regional Rotary Foundation coordinator for Zone 15, which gave her a chance to work with diverse groups. “Members want to do something in the Foundation but then don’t always know how, so I look forward to talking to them about how to get involved,” Åsebol says. “Through the Foundation, we can do good for so many around the world and make the world a better and more peaceful place.”

  One of her first international projects was a children’s home that helped children who had formerly lived in the sewer tunnels of St. Petersburg, Russia. Åsebol also led a global grant project with sponsors from all of the Nordic countries and Taiwan that provides clean water for a rural hospital in Nepal. She has also led Rotary projects in the Baltic states and Ukraine, and she helped Ukrainian refugees in Sweden.

  Åsebol is an active member of her church and volunteers at World Cup skiing events in Sweden. She enjoys skiing, reading about history, gardening, and spending time with her five grandchildren.

  Åsebol is a Rotary Foundation Benefactor, a Major Donor, a multiple Paul Harris Fellow, and a member of Paul Harris Society. She has received the Citation for Meritorious Service.

• 

  Martha "Marty" Peak Helman

  Trustee 2022-26
  Rotary Club of Boothbay Harbor
  Maine, USA

  Marty Helman spent her career as a writer for business executives and as a magazine editor at McGraw-Hill and the American Management Association. Later, she served as president of the Otto and Fran Walter Foundation, a nonprofit that has helped build schools in developing nations, provided scholarships for at-risk youth, and supplied humanitarian aid to Holocaust survivors, among other initiatives. The Walter Foundation partnered with The Rotary Foundation to fund the Rotary Peace Center at Bahçeşehir University in Istanbul, which opened in 2025.

  Helman and her late spouse, Frank, joined the Rotary Club of Boothbay Harbor in 2003. She has served Rotary as chair of the Peace Major Gifts Initiative and as a member of the working group that selected the site for the Rotary Peace Center at Bahçeşehir University.

  Helman is also director-elect for zones 28 and 32.

  A keen fundraiser for The Rotary Foundation, Helman initiated an effort to support the Sakuji Tanaka Rotary Peace Fellowship, which raised $1 million for the Rotary Peace Centers.

  Helman is an Arch Klumph Society member, and she chooses to support Rotary as a member of the Paul Harris Society and PolioPlus Society. She and Frank were charter members of the Legacy Society of The Rotary Foundation.

• 

  Frank Ching Huei Horng

  Trustee 2024-28
  Rotary Club of Panchiao West
  Taiwan

  Frank C.H. heads the Trojan Orthodontic Clinic, which he founded in 1988. He earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from Taipei Medical University. He also holds a master’s degree in craniofacial biology and a certificate in orthodontics from the University of Southern California.

  Horng has served in leadership roles in professional associations for orthodontists in Taiwan and has served as the school dentist at Pan-Chiao Primary School for more than 30 years. Outside of dentistry, he has been active in local civic affairs as a member of the New Taipei City Election Commission since 2010.

  Horng joined Rotary in 1993 as a charter member of his club. Inspired by a quote attributed to Archimedes, “Give me a fulcrum, and I shall move the world,” he worked with his club to establish the Fulcrum Education Scholarship Project for New Taipei City Primary Schools.

  Horng has served Rotary as a Peace Major Gifts Initiative adviser, Water and Sanitation Major Gifts Initiative Committee member, endowment/major gifts adviser, and RI president’s representative. He has also been a learning facilitator and governors-elect training seminar team leader.

  Horng is a strong advocate of the power of vocational service in Rotary. “I can use Rotary as a channel to expand my service,” he says. “I can use district and global grants to bring the Rotary community and the dental community together.”

  As a member of The Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical Advisers, he connected craniofacial surgeons in Bali and Taiwan and led a vocational training team in Mongolia. That project eventually became a Rotary Foundation global grant initiative to promote oral health that helped train 360 Mongolian health workers. Horng’s district received a Presidential Citation in 2014-15 in recognition of this project.

  Horng enjoys hiking and golf. His partner, Shu-Yann Chuang, is also a member of the Rotary Club of Panchiao West. Horng and Chuang are members of the Arch Klumph Society. He has received the Service Above Self Award and The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service.

• 

  Chun-Wook Hyun

  Trustee 2023-27
  Rotary Club of Seoul-Hansoo
  Korea

  Chun-Wook Hyun is senior partner at Seoul-based Kim & Chang, one of the largest law firms in Asia, where he has worked since 1981 as a head of the labor and employment practice group. Born and raised in the island province of Jeju, Hyun received his law degree from Seoul National University and was admitted to the Korean Bar in 1978. He also earned a master's degree from Harvard Law School, was admitted to the New York Bar, and participated as a visiting lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York.

  Hyun's writing has been published in numerous books and journals, including the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. In 2007, he was named one of the top 12 professional lawyers in his field by The Chosun-Ilbo newspaper. He is widely recognized as a trusted adviser to the largest and most reputable global and Korean companies doing business in Korea.

  Hyun has worked as commissioner of the Seoul Labor Relations Commission, legal counsel to the Ministry of Employment and Labor of South Korea, and adjunct professor at Korea University Law School. He currently serves as director of Save the Children Korea, the Amway Korea Foundation, and United Nations Global Compact Korea. He is also an auditor of the BMW Korea Future Foundation. He served as chair of the Korean Bar Association's Legal Aid Foundation and adviser and member of Korea's Peaceful Unification Advisory Council. Hyun received a commendation from the president of Korea in 1997.

  A charter member of the Rotary Club of Seoul-Hansoo in 1991, Hyun has been heavily focused on membership as a mentor to younger leaders. He volunteers with his club in community service projects such as helping older people, making kimchi for people who need help with food, supporting a primary school in Tanzania, and organizing music events to raise funds for PolioPlus. "Rotary changed my life and I see how much it can change others' lives too," says Hyun. "Each of us can be a gift to the world and to each other."

  Hyun has served Rotary in various capacities, including as training leader, RI president's representative, and Host Organization Committee member and legal adviser to the Rotary International Convention in Seoul in 2016. He also serves as director of Rotary Foundation Korea.

  Hyun constantly seeks to embody and exemplify Rotary's core values and The Four-Way Test in his daily life, and his leadership motto is "passion, innovation, and execution." As district governor, he helped increase membership and Rotary Foundation giving. He innovated a memorandum of understanding among district governors, governors-elect, and governors-nominee that fosters continuity of sustainable district goals and growth, a practice still in place in District 3640.

• 

  R. Gordon R. McInally

  Trustee 2024-28
  Rotary Club of South Queensferry
  West Lothian, Scotland

  R. Gordon R. McInally was educated at the Royal High School in Edinburgh and at the University of Dundee, where he earned his graduate degree in dental surgery. He operated his own dental practice in Edinburgh until 2016. McInally was chair of the East of Scotland branch of the British Paedodontic Society and has held various academic positions. He has also served as a presbytery elder, chair of the Queensferry parish congregational board, and commissioner to the general assembly of the Church of Scotland.

  McInally joined Rotary in 1984 at age 26. He has served as president and vice president of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland. He has also served RI as a director and on several committees, including as chair of both the 2018 Toronto Convention Committee and the Operations Review Committee. McInally served as RI president in 2023-24.

  McInally takes special pride in the way Rotary members all around the world embraced the focus on mental health and well-being that was initiated during his presidency and the fact that this focus is continuing well after his term.

  McInally is a patron of the UK-based nonprofit Hope and Homes for Children and led a partnership between that organization and RIBI to support children in Rwanda who had been orphaned by the genocide there. He is a patron of Trade-Aid, an initiative of the Rotary Club of Grantham Kesteven, England, which provides sustainable humanitarian aid to individuals, families, and businesses in the developing world. He is also an ambassador for Bipolar UK, a national mental health organization. In August 2022, he was made a laureate of the Sino Phil Asia International Peace Awards Foundation.

  In his free time, McInally enjoys rugby, good food and wine, and stick dressing, the traditional Scottish craft of making walking sticks.

  McInally describes The Rotary Foundation as “the engine that provides the energy to do Rotary service.” He and his partner, Heather, who is a member of the Rotary Club of Borderlands (Passport Group), are Paul Harris Fellows, Major Donors, Benefactors of The Rotary Foundation, and members of the Bequest Society.

• 

  Ijeoma Pearl Okoro

  Trustee 2024-28
  Rotary Club of Port Harcourt
  Rivers State, Nigeria

  Ijeoma Pearl Okoro has 30 years of experience leading transformation, market development, and management efforts in the insurance industry. She holds a bachelor’s degree in theater and a postgraduate degree in management and studied at Lagos Business School. Okoro is also a fellow of the Institute of Corporate Administration.

  In memory of her father, Okoro founded the Romanus Emeanuru Foundation for Empowerment and Education Development, dedicated to empowerment of women. She volunteers for the Sir Emeka Offor Foundation, a nonprofit humanitarian organization. Active in her church, she is a member of the Knights of St. John International, a Catholic fraternal service organization. She served as the charter president of her chapter of the Lagos Business School Alumni Association and is a patron of the Egbu Women’s Association, a local cultural group.

  Okoro joined Rotary in 1999. She has served Rotary as RI learning facilitator, assistant regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, endowment/major gifts adviser, co-chair of the 2018 Rotary Institute in Lagos, and regional vice chair of the End Polio Now: Countdown to History Campaign Committee. She has served on numerous RI committees, including the Nigeria PolioPlus Committee and the Rotary Foundation Programs Committee. Passionate about the preservation of Rotary history, she led the creation of the Africa Zone group of the Rotary Global History Fellowship, and a stone honors her at its Paul Harris Memorial Walkway.

  Okoro says she will never forget the day the World Health Organization certified Nigeria as polio-free during her term as End Polio Now zone coordinator. “This was a defining moment for me,” she says. “We introduced very diverse strategies to create awareness as well as raise funds for The Rotary Foundation.” She is passionate about creating lasting change and says that “giving is not an exclusive right of the rich.”

  Okoro was called one of the “five Rotary women leading the fight to end polio” in 2019 and received a certificate of appreciation from The Rotary Foundation for her polio eradication efforts. She has also received Rotary’s Distinguished Service Award and the Regional Service Award for a Polio-Free World.

  Okoro enjoys travel, singing, dancing, and gardening. She and her husband, Kingsley, are both Rotary Foundation Major Donors, Bequest Society members, and Benefactors. They and their two children are all Paul Harris Fellows.

• 

  Bharat S. Pandya

  Trustee 2022-26
  Rotary Club of Borivli
  Maharashtra, India

  Bharat Pandya is a practicing general and laparoscopic surgeon. He and his wife, Madhavi, a gynecologist, own a private hospital in Mumbai. He is a fellow of the International College of Surgeons and has served on the board of the Jan Shikshan Sansthan vocational training institute, sponsored by the Indian government.

  Pandya joined Rotary in 1989 as a charter member of his club. During his year as governor of District 3140, his district contributed over $2 million to The Rotary Foundation, making it the top contributor worldwide for 2006-07. He has led numerous projects, including water and sanitation projects funded by Foundation grants that installed check dams so that villagers no longer needed to walk up to four miles per day to collect water.

  Pandya has been an RI director, treasurer, regional Rotary International membership coordinator, and learning facilitator and served on Rotary’s Membership, Strategic Planning, Leadership Development, and Convention Promotion committees and on the India PolioPlus Committee. He served as trustee vice chair in 2023-24. He is also a charter member of his district’s Paul Harris Society.

  He has received the Service Above Self Award, the Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service, and the Rotary Foundation Distinguished Service Award. He and Madhavi are Rotary Foundation Major Donors.

• 

  Vicki Puliz

  Trustee 2025-29
  Rotary Club of Sparks
  Nevada, USA

  Vicki Puliz earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s in business administration from the University of Utah before becoming a partner in a commercial electrical contracting business in Nevada in 1984. She helped lead and expand the business until it merged with a publicly traded entity in 2003, and then she retired.

  Puliz joined Rotary in 1992 as the first woman in her club. She has served Rotary as director, learning facilitator, and Rotary public image coordinator. She has been helped lead several presidents-elect and governors-elect training seminars. “I see Rotary as a leadership organization that provides service,” she says. “Leadership development is one of our key benefits to members.”

  Puliz is also interested in leadership development for young people. It was when she witnessed more than a hundred Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) participants supporting one young woman who was struggling that her vision of the power of Rotary expanded. She has co-chaired RYLA events in her district, facilitated them in Benin, and co-created a district youth leadership program for 12- and 13-year-olds based on RYLA concepts. She also served on the inaugural Youth Advisory Council for Rotary International in 2022, which was composed of young leaders from all Rotary programs and reported directly to the RI Board of Directors.

  Rotary’s peace initiatives are another passion for Puliz. She serves on the Rotary Peace Centers Committee and has participated in events at the peace centers in Bradford, England, and in Istanbul, Türkiye. She also completed Positive Peace Activator training offered through Rotary’s partnership with the Institute for Economics and Peace. She helped form a community of practice on building social cohesion and combating polarization, skills that she has applied in work with adults and young people.

  For Puliz, it is critical for each member to know why they are in Rotary. “If each Rotary member could tap into that purpose and share it with others, it would be so powerful for our organization.”

  Puliz and her husband, Tim, who is also a Rotarian, live in Reno, Nevada. Their blended family includes seven children, 12 grandchildren, and three Rotary Youth Exchange daughters. They enjoy outdoor activities in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and general aviation. Both are active members of the International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians.

  They support The Rotary Foundation as Arch Klumph Society members and members of the Paul Harris Society, the Bequest Society, and the PolioPlus Society.

• 

  Carlos Sandoval

  Trustee 2023-27
  Rotary Club of San Nicolás de los Garza
  Nuevo León, Mexico

  Carlos Sandoval is chair of Orsan Corp., a leading company in the energy sector and the main distributor of Exxon Mobil in Mexico, with more than 270 service stations and over 3,000 employees throughout the country. He is also regional consultant of the Mexico division of BBVA, the multinational financial institution. A graduate of the National Autonomous University of Mexico's School of Architecture, Sandoval earned his MBA from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education.

  Sandoval joined Rotary in 1975. He has served RI and The Rotary Foundation as regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, member of the Fund Development and Rotary Peace Centers committees, Sandoval joined Rotary in 1975. He has served RI and The Rotary Foundation as regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, member of the Fund Development and Rotary Peace Centers committees, and extraordinary donations endowment/major gifts assessor. He has also been an adviser to the Community Economic Development Major Gifts Initiative.

  He has participated in and led numerous projects that reflect his Rotary philosophy that "we are here to change the lives of people for the better." One project, supported by Foundation grants, helped provide bakery equipment and professional bakery training to people who recuperated from drug addictions. In honor of his late son, Carlos, he established a directed gift to The Rotary Foundation that supports community and economic development projects focused on women entrepreneurs throughout Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Colombia. Sandoval is a proponent of giving to the Foundation and has hosted million-dollar dinner events three times.

  His philanthropy work outside Rotary includes establishing the Orsan Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes health initiatives among underprivileged groups and provides assistance in disaster situations. In addition, he sponsors three addiction rehabilitation centers in the Monterrey area and serves on the boards of the Monterrey branch of the Mexican Red Cross and the Autonomous University of Nuevo León Foundation. In his spare time, he enjoys watching car races and working out and running to stay in shape for his three daughters and 15 grandchildren.

  Sandoval is a recipient of The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service. He and his spouse, Martha, support the Foundation as Platinum Trustees Circle members of the Arch Klumph Society.

• 

  Dennis J. Shore

  Trustee 2023-27
  Rotary Club of Hawthorn,
  Victoria, Australia

  Dennis J. Shore is a chartered chemical engineer with bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of New South Wales. After a distinguished career as a senior executive, culminating in international business development and management for Australian Paper Manufacturers (later Amcor) in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, he established his own consulting business before retiring in 2021 to focus on Rotary.

  Shore is a fellow of the Australasian Pulp and Paper Industry Technical Association and a recipient of its Distinguished Service Award. He served in several Australian industrial advocacy groups, including as a council member of the Australian Standards Association, past director of the Australian Shareholders' Association, and member of the Business Council of Australia's Environment Committee.

  He was an inaugural director and continues as a trustee for a foundation of Monash University, Australia's largest university, which awarded him with the Sir John Monash Medal for distinguished service to engineering education.

  Shore, who joined Rotary in 1980, has served as endowment/major gifts adviser and is vice chair of Rotary Foundation Australia. He has served twice as Council on Legislation representative. He was a vice chair and promotions director of the Host Organization Committee for the Rotary International Convention in Melbourne.

  Shore's greatest passions in Rotary are supporting education and peace initiatives, part of a new world of opportunities that opened up for him after he attended the 2003 Rotary International Convention in Brisbane as club president. 'The convention was like Rotary on steroids and imbued me with enthusiasm," he says. "I realized what you can do when you have a leadership opportunity in Rotary — and that you can have a 'Rotary moment' every day."

  With his club, he has supported projects ranging from scholarships and water tank installations in the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, a hospital in Cambodia, and mental health initiatives in Australia to the club'\'s signature Rotary Safe Families program. Shore, who has done a lot of grassroots work to grow Rotary Foundation grants in his zone, also convened a million-dollar dinner in 2017 that raised over $3.5 million for the Foundation.

  Shore and his wife, Lynda, are Major Donors and Bequest Society members. He is a member of the District 9800 Paul Harris Society and PolioPlus society and a recipient of The Rotary Foundation Distinguished Service Award and the Citation for Meritorious Service.

• 

  Katsuhiko “Kats” Tatsuno

  Trustee 2025-29
  Rotary Club of Tokyo-West
  Tokyo, Japan

  Katsuhiko “Kats” Tatsuno serves as the CEO of Tatsuno Corp. He joined the company, founded by his father, after earning his law degree from the University of Tokyo in 1964. Under Katsuhiko’s leadership, Tatsuno Corp. expanded beyond its specialty in textiles into new sectors such as real estate and electrical supplies.

  Tatsuno joined the Rotary Club of Tokyo-West in 1982 and has served Rotary as director, Council on Legislation representative, and RI training leader — a role he says was both meaningful and fun. He has been a member of both the Membership Committee and the Nominating Committee for RI President, among others. He also was a member of the Japanese Rotary committee that supported recovery efforts and survivors after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, one of the most powerful earthquakes recorded in Japan.

  Tatsuno says that when he saw how his daughter’s life was transformed by the time she spent in Wisconsin, USA, through Rotary Youth Exchange, he realized how truly great Rotary is. Another unforgettable moment for him was at the 2011 district conference, when, as governor of District 2750, he invited all 95 club presidents to take the stage and briefly present their clubs, shifting the focus away from himself to their accomplishments. “The club presidents still remember that moment,” Tatsuno says. “Even now, when we meet, they talk about it.”

  He established the Tatsuno Environment Foundation, which provides scholarships to university students pursuing studies related to environmental conservation, with the goal of fostering future global leaders in that field.

  Tatsuno is a lifelong golfer and student of shodō, the art of Japanese calligraphy. He supports The Rotary Foundation as a member of the Arch Klumph Society, a multiple Paul Harris Fellow, a Benefactor, and a Major Donor.

• 

  Stephanie A. Urchick

  Trustee 2025-29
  Rotary Club of McMurray
  Pennsylvania, USA

  Stephanie A. Urchick led Rotary as its president in 2024-25. Previously, she served as an RI director and Rotary Foundation trustee and in numerous other roles, including training leader, regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, and RI president’s representative. In addition, Urchick was a representative or a member-at-large at multiple sessions of the Council on Legislation.

  Urchick has also served as chair of the Strategic Planning Committee and The Rotary Foundation’s Centennial Celebration Committee, as well as a member of various Rotary committees, including the Election Review Committee and Operational Review Committee.

  A Rotary member since 1991, Urchick has participated in a variety of international service projects, including National Immunization Days in India and Nigeria. In Vietnam, she worked with clubs to help build a primary school, and she traveled to the Dominican Republic to install water filters.

  Urchick has mentored new Rotary members in Ukraine and coordinated a Rotary Foundation grant for mammography equipment and a biopsy unit for a hospital in Poland. In its commemorative book, the Rotary Club of Kraków, Poland, noted Urchick as a key figure for helping with the rebirth of Rotary in post-Communist Poland. Urchick has also helped to pair clubs and districts in the U.S. with Rotary clubs in Albania, Kosovo, and Ukraine for humanitarian and educational services. In 2025 she hosted a peace conference in Istanbul with the theme “Healing in a Divided World.”

  Urchick’s professional background is in the higher education, consulting, and entertainment industries. She received her doctorate in leadership studies from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and has been recognized by The Rotary Foundation and numerous community and international organizations.

• 

  John Hewko

  General Secretary and Chief Executive Officer
  Rotary Club of Kyiv
  Ukraine

  John Hewko is the general secretary and chief executive officer of Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation.

  From 2004 to 2009, Hewko was vice president for operations and compact development for the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. government agency established in 2004 to deliver foreign assistance to the world’s poorest countries. At MCC, he was the principal negotiator for foreign assistance agreements to 26 countries in Africa, Asia, South America, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union. During his tenure, he completed the negotiation of assistance agreements totaling $6.3 billion to 18 countries for infrastructure, agriculture, water and sanitation, health, and education projects.

  Prior to joining MCC, Hewko was an international partner with the law firm Baker & McKenzie, specializing in international corporate transactions in emerging markets. He helped establish the firm’s Moscow office and was the managing partner of its offices in Kyiv and Prague.

  While working in Ukraine in the early 1990s, Hewko assisted the working group that prepared the initial draft of the new Ukrainian post-Soviet constitution and was a charter member of the first Rotary club in Kyiv.

  Hewko has been a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University, and a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He has published papers and articles in leading U.S. and international publications, and he has spoken extensively on political and business issues dealing with the former Soviet Union, Central Europe, Africa, and Latin America. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

  Hewko holds a law degree from Harvard University, a master’s in modern history from Oxford University (where he studied as a Marshall Scholar), and a bachelor’s in government and Soviet studies from Hamilton College in New York.

  As general secretary, Hewko leads a diverse staff of more than 800 at Rotary International’s World Headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, USA, and seven international offices. He and his partner, Marga, are Major Donors to The Rotary Foundation. They live in Evanston.

  Read General Secretary Hewko’s full biography.

  Follow @johnhewko on Twitter. Visit John Hewko on Facebook.

2025-26 Trustee Committees

Executive Committee

Acts on behalf of the Trustees according to established policy, advises the Trustees with respect to governance and other significant issues, and reviews recommendations for report to the Trustees from the following committees: Investment Committee, Fund Development Committee, Programs Committee, Stewardship Committee, and TRF Finance Committee.

Chair

Ann-Britt Åsebol

Members

Holger Knaack
Greg E. Podd
Jennifer Jones
Stephanie A. Urchick
Gordon R. McInally
Bharat Pandya
Alain Van de Poel

Participant Experience

Reviews recommendations for report to the Trustees from the following committees: Joint Learning, Joint Communications, Joint Technology, Peace Centers Committees, and Joint DEI Task Force.

Chair

Dennis J. Shore

Vice Chair

Martha Peak Helman

Members

Ching-Huei Horng
Chun-Wook Hyun
Ijeoma Pearl Okoro
Vicki Puliz
Carlos E. Sandoval
Katsuhiko Tatsumo

Foundation Finance Committee

Advises the Trustees with respect to all finances of the Foundation, including the annual review and recommendations on the budget and the five-year forecast.

Chair

Greg E. Podd

Vice Chair

Dennis J. Shore

Members

Bharat Pandya
Vicki Puliz

Stewardship Committee

Advises the Trustees and General Secretary with respect to matters of stewardship, compliance, and oversight of grants, fundraising, and recognition.

Chair

Jennifer Jones

Vice Chair

Bharat S. Pandya

Members

Carlos E. Sandoval
Ijeoma Pearl Okoro
Stephanie A. Urchick